The Sudden Appearance of Hope by Claire North

Synopsis: All the world forgets me. First my face, then my voice, then the consequences of my deeds.
So listen. Remember me.

My name is Hope Arden, and you won’t know who I am. We’ve met before – a thousand times. But I am the girl the world forgets.

It started when I was sixteen years old. A slow declining, an isolation, one piece at a time.

A father forgetting to drive me to school. A mother setting the table for three, not four. A teacher who forgets to chase my missing homework. A friend who looks straight through me and sees a stranger.

No matter what I do, the words I say, the people I hurt, the crimes I commit – you will never remember who I am.

That makes my life tricky. But it also makes me dangerous . .

Review: I admit that I did not know what to expect with this novel. I did not know about the author and the synopsis seemed different. What to say about this story? I admit that the first word that comes to mind is “different”. I have never read anything comparable to what is presented here.

Hope did not have an easy life. No. And she is not a girl like any others. One day people started to forget her. Yes, completely. One day her parents got up and she was a stranger. Only her little sister managed to recognize her. But how to stay in a house where you are mistaken for a stranger? How to obtain a diploma or a job when as soon as a person turns away for 10 seconds, she becomes anonymous again? Nothing is possible and at the same time new possibilities open up to her. Yet, all that is legal is off topic, it is not possible, but stealing objects? This is the dream job! Nobody knows who she is, no one remembers her, no one can find her. And yet Hope is tired, loneliness weighs on her, she has nobody and it’s hard. When a woman she considered as a friend dies because of a new phone application that tries to make you “perfect”, our heroine is determined to take revenge. But this application goes far beyond what she thought, it really changes people, it conditions and denaturalizes them. It forces them to become another person who is supposed to be considered “perfect” and if the individual does not follow the advice, he/she is devalued, loses points and is diminished. It’s something very difficult to see.

It was an interesting, different and original story. I admit that I did not expect something like that. The chapters are short and intriguing and I was really curious to see what was going to happen. I had a good time with this novel. I do not know what I think of the end, I do not know if I like it or not, but in any case it was quite logical without really closing the story either. If you want something different, go for it!

 

 

19 thoughts on “The Sudden Appearance of Hope by Claire North

  1. Wow! That blurb really got me, but your review makes me even more curious. At first I thought she was dead and didn’t know, but then you said people are actually forgetting who she is. I’m always up for something different so I’m definitely going to check this out 🙂

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